The present invention is directed to a system and method for selecting an appropriate contact lens in orthokeratology.
Orthokeratology has been practiced since the 1960""s and involves reduction, elimination, or modification (including controlled progression) of myopia by a programmed application of contact lenses. Unlike the typical contact lenses for vision correction which are worn during day time, in orthokeratology corneas are reshaped by wearing contact lenses overnight. This reshaping of corneas reduces or eliminates a need for wearing glasses or contact lenses during the day.
Currently, the shape of contact lenses are generally individually designed by doctors for each patients. The lenses are then ordered through a laboratory which custom makes the lenses based on the parameters provided by the doctor. The lenses are then delivered to the doctor for fitting on the patient. This requires the patient to wait days, and sometimes weeks, from the time the patient is examined by the doctor to when the patient is finally fitted with the lenses. If the lenses do not fit properly, the processes are repeated, thereby creating more delays. Delays between the initial examination and fitting of the lenses may increase the cost and cause inconvenience to the patient in that the patient has to have at least two separate appointments with the doctor to be fitted with contact lenses for orthokeratology.
Therefore, there is a need for a simple system and a method for doctors in selecting and fitting a patient with contact lenses for orthokeratology which reduces or eliminates delays.
The present invention provides a system and a method for selecting a contact lens for orthokeratology comprising selecting an appropriate contact lens based on the ocular information using a vision improvement program reference table, and fitting the patient with the selected vision improvement lens. The vision improvement program reference table includes a plurality of mean corneal curvature values, a plurality of range of ratios between the mean corneal curvature and a spherical equivalent value, and a listing of appropriate contact lenses corresponding to these values.
Preferably, a doctor is provided with a plurality of contact lenses which corresponds to at least a significant portion of the number of contact lenses listed in the vision improvement program reference table. In this manner, the doctor is able to select an appropriate contact lens for a patient from the plurality of contact lenses which are readily available, thereby eliminating or significantly reducing the number of custom made lenses that are required.